Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL, USA.
Gangzhou Institute for Geography, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Environ Pollut. 2018 Aug;239:30-42. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.04.021. Epub 2018 Apr 9.
Artificial lighting at night has becoming a new type of pollution posing an important anthropogenic environmental pressure on organisms. The objective of this research was to examine the potential association between nighttime artificial light pollution and nest densities of the three main sea turtle species along Florida beaches, including green turtles, loggerheads, and leatherbacks. Sea turtle survey data was obtained from the "Florida Statewide Nesting Beach Survey program". We used the new generation of satellite sensor "Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)" (version 1 D/N Band) nighttime annual average radiance composite image data. We defined light pollution as artificial light brightness greater than 10% of the natural sky brightness above 45° of elevation (>1.14 × 10 Wmsr). We fitted a generalized linear model (GLM), a GLM with eigenvectors spatial filtering (GLM-ESF), and a generalized estimating equations (GEE) approach for each species to examine the potential correlation of nest density with light pollution. Our models are robust and reliable in terms of the ability to deal with data distribution and spatial autocorrelation (SA) issues violating model assumptions. All three models found that nest density is significantly negatively correlated with light pollution for each sea turtle species: the higher light pollution, the lower nest density. The two spatially extended models (GLM-ESF and GEE) show that light pollution influences nest density in a descending order from green turtles, to loggerheads, and then to leatherbacks. The research findings have an implication for sea turtle conservation policy and ordinance making. Near-coastal lights-out ordinances and other approaches to shield lights can protect sea turtles and their nests. The VIIRS DNB light data, having significant improvements over comparable data by its predecessor, the DMSP-OLS, shows promise for continued and improved research about ecological effects of artificial light pollution.
夜间人工照明已成为一种新型污染，对生物构成了重要的人为环境压力。本研究旨在检验夜间人工光污染与佛罗里达州海滩三种主要海龟物种（绿海龟、红海龟和棱皮龟）的筑巢密度之间的潜在关联。海龟调查数据来自“佛罗里达州全面筑巢海滩调查计划”。我们使用新一代卫星传感器“可见红外成像辐射计套件 (VIIRS)”（版本 1 D/N 波段）夜间年平均辐亮度复合图像数据。我们将光污染定义为高于 45°仰角（>1.14×10 Wmsr）的人工光亮度大于自然天空亮度的 10%。我们为每个物种拟合了广义线性模型 (GLM)、具有特征向量空间滤波的 GLM (GLM-ESF) 和广义估计方程 (GEE) 方法，以检验筑巢密度与光污染的潜在相关性。我们的模型在处理数据分布和空间自相关 (SA) 问题方面具有稳健性和可靠性，这些问题违反了模型假设。所有三种模型都发现，筑巢密度与光污染呈显著负相关：光污染越高，筑巢密度越低。两种空间扩展模型 (GLM-ESF 和 GEE) 表明，光污染对筑巢密度的影响依次为绿海龟、红海龟，然后是棱皮龟。研究结果对海龟保护政策和条例制定具有启示意义。近岸熄灯条例和其他屏蔽灯光的方法可以保护海龟及其巢穴。VIIRS DNB 光数据在其前身 DMSP-OLS 的可比数据方面有了显著改进，为继续开展和改进人工光污染对生态影响的研究提供了希望。
